There are rumors floating about AMD's 8xxx cards, and from the specs sheet that has been floating around they look pretty darn impressive. Currently I have a malfunctioning 9800gt. Should I go get myself a 7870 or 660, or wait for new series to be launched?

Depends how desperate your situation is. The next generation of cards will presumably be a nice improvement, BUT new graphics cards often launch somewhat overpriced. So you'd probably have to wait a few more months before you would really get a much better deal than what you can get today.

Moraven

31-12-2012, 09:20 PM

We are about...8-11 months into the current generation. Prices have dropped pretty well and its a good time to get something.

Example. High end of the next gen are released first. 79xx, then 78xx and 77xx came out later for AMD as the more budget friendly cards.

AMD 7950 release price: $450-$500

Now: $280-$350

At the same time a last gen 6850 (non stock) went for $160. Looks like 7850s are going for $200-$250 presently.

Best idea if cautious on price, is go for a mid range card now. We are getting close to a year in and their prices tend to not drop as much. If you want a high end, wait 6-12 months from launch (if you can) and can get something in the $300 range. (lesson learned! But I wanted the speed at the time. Would have saved ~$150 if I had waited.)

I imagine Nvidia is similiar. With anything computers, now is the best time to get something honestly. There is always something bigger and better on the horizon. You could sit in an endless cycle of waiting for the latest gen to drop in price and waiting for the next gen to release.

Shane

01-01-2013, 05:11 AM

That's how I approach the purchase of gpus too. And I had been waiting since for the prices of the 7870 and the 660 come down. The thing is, the rumored prices of the upcoming cards have made them too hard to resist.

Sakkura

01-01-2013, 04:05 PM

I imagine Nvidia is similiar. With anything computers, now is the best time to get something honestly. There is always something bigger and better on the horizon. You could sit in an endless cycle of waiting for the latest gen to drop in price and waiting for the next gen to release.
Yes and no. The price drop for the Radeon HD 7000 series has been very large for various reasons. The HD 7000 launched while Nvidia was stuck with their old 500 series, so AMD was outclassing them and upped their prices. Nvidia then launched the 600 series which performed better than the HD 7000s, at least for half a year until AMDs drivers caught up, and that meant AMD has to slash prices to stay in the game. AMD may also have had to focus a little more on getting GPUs out the door with their CPU business struggling.

Still, the usual MO for tech products is a high launch price and then gradually lower prices until the product is phased out. Graphics cards are definitely no exception.

Moraven

01-01-2013, 09:44 PM

Well yes, competition is the main reason prices drop.

But if they both released at the same time, you would see similiar pricing for their high end products until they started to price cut to compete.

goatmonkey

09-01-2013, 10:26 AM

What brand is your 9800gt? If it's EVGA and you registered it and still in warranty you can send it off for a replacement and the chances are you will get an improved card (my 9800gtx was replaced with a 9800gtx+). Not sure what other companies policies are but it might be worth looking into.

baboonanza

09-01-2013, 03:34 PM

That chart looks highly suspicious to me. They are claiming that AMD are going to release new GPUs with larger die sizes for less than the previous iterations? Smells like bovine faeces to me.

Sakkura

09-01-2013, 04:14 PM

That chart looks highly suspicious to me. They are claiming that AMD are going to release new GPUs with larger die sizes for less than the previous iterations? Smells like bovine faeces to me.
They're just being a bit sneaky about the price they're comparing with. Right now, a 7870 goes for around $220-250 rather than the $349 MSRP the chart lists. Same deal with the 7850.

Shane

10-01-2013, 01:37 PM

What brand is your 9800gt? If it's EVGA and you registered it and still in warranty you can send it off for a replacement and the chances are you will get an improved card (my 9800gtx was replaced with a 9800gtx+). Not sure what other companies policies are but it might be worth looking into.

It's been out of warranty for a long while.

I'm thinking of buying getting a card this month. Which one should I go for, the 670 or the 7950? The resolution is 1920x1080.

jyden

10-01-2013, 05:04 PM

I would go with the 670, but that's based purely on past experiences with AMD/ATI drivers. If they've upped their game (I've heard their last few updates were decent, but slow) it might be interesting to look at their cards, if nothing else, because of the price difference.

Shane

10-01-2013, 05:09 PM

I'm going with Sapphire 7950 Boost. The performance of AMD cards has improved substantially after the latest driver updates as per these benches (http://www.techspot.com/review/603-best-graphics-cards/page12.html).

Sakkura

10-01-2013, 05:47 PM

I'd personally rather take a 7950 without Boost and overclock it myself.

Shane

11-01-2013, 01:52 PM

I don't really have any experience with overclocking and neither do I have any cooling system in the cabinet.

Sakkura

11-01-2013, 03:06 PM

Well, the Boost is an overclock of sorts, just a bad one that raises power consumption and heat a bit more than necessary.

Shane

11-01-2013, 03:15 PM

What do you recommend then? The 670 is about 60$ costlier.

Sakkura

11-01-2013, 03:17 PM

Mwell, the 7950 Boost is actually fine if you don't want to overclock it yourself.

Shane

11-01-2013, 04:58 PM

Yea, the 7950b does suck in more power but I think that my Corsair 650W PSU can handle it.

Lukasz

12-01-2013, 07:00 AM

what smells fishy with the chart is 75 percent more FLOPS. Highly improbable unless 8xxx series features major breakthroughs in computing technology.... but if that was true they would surely rebrand the cards.